Vikki LaMotta, whose stormy marriage to boxer Jake LaMotta was portrayed in the movie “Raging Bull,” died Jan. 25 in Boca Raton, Fla. She was 75.
In the movie the boxer, played by Robert De Niro, has an obsession with his young wife, played by Cathy Moriarty, that turns violent and drives her away.
But the real story was less dramatic and more of a testament to Mrs. LaMotta’s inner strength, said her son Harrison Foster.
Retired from boxing, Jake LaMotta had such trouble adjusting to life outside the ring that Mrs. LaMotta, then 26, felt compelled to move out, Foster said. “It took courage to leave Jake at such a young age with three children.”
To the end she stayed friends with her first husband, Foster said. Mrs. LaMotta was also divorced from his father, Tony Foster, her second husband.
Jake LaMotta, 83, appearing last week in Manhattan for a screening of “Raging Bull,” told The New York Times, “I spoke to her a few months ago. I used to speak to her a lot, but as time went by we would only speak on special occasions. But we made up a long time ago.”
